History is on China's side in islands dispute

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To China, Japan's move to "nationalise" the uninhabited Diaoyu/Senkaku islands at the centre of an increasingly heated tussle between them is akin to someone seizing possession of something whose legal ownership is still being disputed.

One party's action is sure to trigger a reaction from the other. It did.

Now, for the first time, China is challenging Japan's sovereignty over a group of islands which used to be called Ryukyu islands and which now make up Okinawa prefecture.

Like the Diaoyu islands, the Ryukyus also lie in the East China Sea, between Japan's Kyushu island and Taiwan.

On September 14, a commentary in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily asserted that "even the Ryukyu islands do not belong to Japan, under international laws governing the post-World War II order".

The Ryukyu islands came under the United States' civil administration from 1945 until 1972, when the Americans handed over control to the Japanese.

The PLA Daily's commentary stopped short of saying that the Ryukyus belong to China. But Chinese historical records would appear to support such a claim.

The earliest records of the Ryukyu islands can be found in the Book of Sui, written in AD621 to record the history of the Sui Dynasty (AD581-617). The Ryukyus used to be a tributary state of China. The name Ryukyu, in fact, originates from Liuqiu, also spelt Liuchiu and Lewchew, a name the Chinese gave to the islands.

Ryukyu historical records showed that from 1383 onwards, its kings derived their mandate to rule the islands from the Chinese emperor. This continued for nearly five centuries until 1879, when Japan annexed the islands and called them Okinawa prefecture.

This is well documented in historical records, which is why when the US-led Allied powers held discussions on "restoring territories", referring to Chinese territories that Japan had taken by force, both the Ryukyus and Taiwan were included.

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History is on China's side in islands dispute

China hits out over islands at UN

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28 September 2012 Last updated at 00:09 ET

A war of words over islands claimed by both Japan and China continued at the United Nations, as the US called for cooler heads to prevail.

In a speech, China's foreign minister accused Japan of stealing the islands, which lie in the East China Sea.

On Wednesday, the Japanese prime minister called the archipelago an "inherent part" of Japanese territory.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had urged both to "engage in dialogue to calm the waters", a diplomat said.

The islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are also claimed by Taiwan. South of Okinawa and north of Taiwan, they are controlled by Japan.

Earlier this month, the Japanese government bought the islands from their private Japanese owner, reigniting a territorial row that has rumbled for years.

The row has seen a ceremony meant to mark Sino-Japanese ties cancelled and a number of Japanese businesses briefly halt production in some Chinese cities because of protests.

Both Chinese and Taiwanese fishing boats and surveillance ships have also been sailing in and out of what Japan says are its territorial waters - leading to warnings from Tokyo.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi's comments came as he gave China's address to the UN General Assembly.

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China hits out over islands at UN

Jackson Lab CEO Leads From Heart

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BAR HARBOR Edison Liu, M.D. has filled top leadership positions across the globe while gaining encyclopedic knowledge of cancer pathology, human genetics and medical science. But one year into his term as president and CEO of the Jackson Laboratory, Dr. Liu has become known for something decidedly artistic; the good doctor is actually one heck of a piano player.

Music runs strong through Dr. Lius life, from his childhood in California, through his recent, decade-long stint as the founding executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore. It didnt take long for others at the lab to take notice of his skills. A monthly pick-up session in Roscoes, the labs cafeteria, soon developed, with Dr. Liu taking the lead on the house piano.

Theres only one prerequisite to play, Dr. Liu told the Islander in a wide-ranging interview this week, and that is an adherence to what he calls sincere art. In other words, you may not be very good, but you have to be very sincere.

When filtered through Dr. Lius impressive intellect, those monthly jam sessions resonate with meaning. Music, he said, provides alternative communication pathways, ones that are able to break through much of the stalemate that can develop out of modern life. Musical sincerityis the closest thing to truth that I know of, he said.

There is a different etiquette, an opening of different portals into the heart, Dr. Liu said. And the more pathways we have into each others souls, the closer community we have.

A search for those pathways defines Dr. Lius leadership style and traces the arc of his career. From the time he was five years old, he wanted to be a physician, just as his parents were. But just as music, and the great literature that Dr. Liu also loves, tells a sometimes unexpected story, so, too, has Dr. Lius path in life.

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Jackson Lab CEO Leads From Heart

UNC Health Care taking over High Point Regional Health

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The realities of the increasing cost of providing health care have led High Point Regional Health System to be acquired by UNC Health Care System.

The systems announced Thursday that UNC Health Care will take on oversight of High Point Regional in early 2013.

High Point Regional officials spent seven months pursuing proposals from health care systems in the state.

Officials did not say which other systems responded. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center confirmed Thursday that it did not submit a proposal and had no further comment. Novant Health Inc. officials could not be reached for comment.

High Point Regional will remain a private, not-for-profit organization, keeping its current management.

UNC Health Care said it does not plan to make job cuts among High Point Regional's nearly 2,000 workforce for at least a year, or changes in pay rates or benefits for High Point Regional employees.

"We are confident that this partnership will allow us to continue to meet our mission of providing exceptional health services to the people of our region," said Jeffrey Miller, president of High Point Regional.

Under the terms of the letter of intent, UNC Health Care will provide $150 million for capital improvements at High Point Regional and $50 million for the establishment of a community health fund.

Those kinds of financial enticements have become commonplace when one health-care system acquires another.

For example, when Cone Health of Greensboro took over Alamance Regional Medical Center of Burlington this year, Cone won the oversight competition in part because it was willing to commit $150 million over five years toward capital investment in the hospital.

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UNC Health Care taking over High Point Regional Health

Md. picks model for essential health insurance benefits

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Under national health care reform, insurance policies in Maryland will be required to cover acupuncture for pain management and chiropractic care in certain cases.

The plans won't cover acupuncture for other treatments, such as infertility or stress, and will limit home health care to 120 visits per year and physical therapy for ailments such as sports injuries to 50 days a year.

The state panel charged with implementing health care reform in Maryland voted Thursday to include these services among those insurers will be required to cover once reform is fully implemented in 2014.

The Affordable Care Act requires that insurers cover certain "essential benefits" but leaves the details up to the states, which must choose from 10 insurance options already sold within their borders. Plans could look different from state to state. Some may cover chiropractors, while others may not.

The Maryland Health Care Reform Coordinating Council chose to model insurance policies under reform after the plans currently offered to the state's employees. The 16-member panel reviewed 10 insurance options before choosing the state plan.

The state plan didn't offer the best coverage in all areas, the group said, but it struck a good balance between offering comprehensive coverage and not driving up costs for consumers.

Panel members said the plan must not be so costly that it dissuades people from opting in. People can choose not to buy insurance, but will have to pay a penalty. In order for reform to work, a balanced share of healthy and sickly people need to be enrolled to share in the costs.

"This plan will give meaningful coverage, but it will still be affordable," said Carolyn A. Quattrocki, the coordinating council's executive director.

Insurance companies don't have to model their plans exactly after the state plan, but they must offer similar options. Open enrollment on the health exchange, the marketplace where those without employee-sponsored insurance will be able to buy policies, will begin in October 2013. Reform will be instituted three months later.

"This gives a green light for insurers to start designing plans for January 2014," said state Health Secretary Joshua Sharfstein, who co-chairs the coordinating council with Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.

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Changes to federal health spending will hit provincial governments hard, budget officer says

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OTTAWA A new report from a federal spending watchdog concludes the Conservative governments changes to health funding will ultimately download billions of dollars in medical costs annually to the provinces, something premiers and opposition parties say will erode public health care and provincial finances.

The office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report Thursday highlighting the extent to which provincial governments will increasingly struggle to balance their books and pay for health care in the coming years, partly due to the federal Conservative governments decision to trim the growth in health transfers to the provinces.

The Harper governments reforms over the past year to the Canada Health Transfer and Old Age Security, along with its ongoing savings in operating spending, mean the federal governments finances are sustainable over the long term, the report says. The Canada and Quebec pension plans are also in good shape over the long run, it says.

But these changes especially slicing the growth in health transfers in the coming years will leave the provinces with a significant fiscal gap that will force them to either increase taxes or cut programs, the report says.

They (federal government) totally transferred the problem to the provinces, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page said Thursday in an interview.

If I were a province, Id be under significant stress, he said. People are going to start asking questions: Have the feds ante-ed up enough to support a national health-care program?

Indeed, the countrys premiers warned in a recent report that the new federal health accord will gut nearly $36 billion in funding from the provinces over the 10-year deal, compared to the current arrangements, and will erode public health services to all Canadians.

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, the current chairman of the Council of the Federation of premiers, said Thursday that provinces will struggle to pay for health care with the funding changes announced by Ottawa late last year.

This will bring the federal share of health-care costs to less than 20 per cent, compared to about 50 per cent originally,Dexter said in a statement to Postmedia News.

In many parts of the country, including Nova Scotia, there is an aging population, which is going to substantially increase the cost of health care.These costs will consume an increasing share of provincial budgets.

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Changes to federal health spending will hit provincial governments hard, budget officer says

University health privatization a 'mixed bag'

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Like most college students, Eric Kamler is young and healthy. He suffers from the occasional cold, but by and large, hes rarely had to use the University Health Center.

But the University of Nebraska-Lincoln student body president likes to know its there and that he can count on it. Thats why hes watching closely a plan to privatize health center operations.

I think the biggest concern that students have that weve heard at student senate and in our offices is maintaining the same quality of health care and services, he said.

At his Sept. 11 state of the university address, UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman announced plans to hire a private health care provider to build and operate a new health center. To ensure participation from various stakeholders, the university has created an advisory board that will review the bids and make a recommendation to Perlman.

That board is made up of university staff, faculty and students, including James Guest, director of the University Health Center. Since Sept. 11, Guest has spent much of his spare time researching the successes and failures of other universities at privatization.

He has looked at schools like the University of Northern Colorado, which ended its contract with a large hospital in 2006 after its privatized health center failed to generate enough profits, and Radford University in Virginia, which successfully outsourced its health center to a large healthcare provider after an initial contract with another provider collapsed in 2001.

Its a mixed bag, Guest said.

With virtually flat state funding for the past five years, UNL is looking to take advantage of scale in purchasing and improve regulation compliance by connecting the health center to a larger health care organization. Perlman has said privatization also could reduce the cost of medical care to students and allow the university to avoid increasing student fees to pay to replace the 1957-built health center.

Chris Jackson, vice chancellor for business and finance at UNL, said a failed 2009 student referendum that would have increased student fees to pay for a new health center also prompted the university to begin considering privatization.

Costs, as we are very aware, continue to rise, she said. We are continually looking at ways we might more expeditiously provide services to our students.

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Kenji Kamiyama's Full 009 RE:CYBORG Trailer Streamed

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Trailer previews plot & voices of Cyborg 002, 003, 004, Dr. Gilmore

The YouTube channel of director Kenji Kamiyama (Eden of the East, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) began streaming the full-length trailer for Kamiyama's upcoming feature film, 009 RE:CYBORG, on Thursday. The trailer introduces the film's story and highlights the action sequences. It also offers the first preview of the voices of Cyborg 002 (Daisuke Ono), 003 (Chiwa Saito), 004 (Toru Ohkawa) in the film, as well as the first glimpse of the cyborgs' progenitor Dr. Gilmore in the film.

The story begins in 2013 when skycrapers in London, Moscow, Berlin, and New York are destroyed by simultaneous bombings. The indiscriminate terrorism by an unknown group with unknown motives sets off widespread panic throughout the world.

There was once a group of nine cyborg fighters who rescued humanity from threats, but they had disbanded to their home countries. Now the man who created them, Dr. Gilmore, has summoned and assembled them back together again. However, the 00 Number Cyborgs' former leader, a Japanese man named Joe Shimamura (Mamoru Miyano), is now living alone in Tokyo's Roppongi with his past memories erased.

The film, which is Kamiyama's first in full-3D animation, is based on Shotaro Ishinomori's classic science-fiction manga Cyborg 009 that was famously left uncompleted by the creator's passing. In the original manga, the secret Black Ghost organization transforms nine unsuspecting humans into cyborgs. However, the nine cyborgs turn on their masters and protect the rest of humanity from Black Ghost's plans for world war.

The film will open simultaneously in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea on October 27. The Facebook page for PH9 Global, the official account for director Kenji Kamiyama's titles, revealed that an English script for his upcoming 009 Re:Cyborg anime film is in development.

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Eric Porres of Rocket Fuel to Speak at OMMA Global at Advertising Week 2012

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REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 27, 2012) - Rocket Fuel, the leading provider of artificial intelligence advertising solutions for digital marketers, today announced that CMO Eric Porres will join a panel discussion at OMMA Global at Advertising Week, to be held on October 1, 2012 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

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About Rocket Fuel:

Rocket Fuel is the leading provider of artificial intelligence advertising solutions that transform digital media campaigns into self-optimizing engines that learn and adapt in real-time, and deliver outstanding results from awareness to sales. Recently awarded #22 in Forbes Most Promising Companies in America list, over 700 of the world's most successful marketers trust Rocket Fuel to power their advertising across display, video, mobile, and social media. Founded by online advertising veterans and rocket scientists from NASA, DoubleClick, IBM, and Salesforce.com, Rocket Fuel is based in Redwood Shores, California, and has offices in fifteen cities worldwide including New York, London, Toronto, and Hamburg.

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Eric Porres of Rocket Fuel to Speak at OMMA Global at Advertising Week 2012

Mayo Clinic finds way to weed out problem stem cells, making therapy safer

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Public release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jennifer Schutz newsbureau@mayo.edu 507-284-5005 Mayo Clinic

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers have found a way to detect and eliminate potentially troublemaking stem cells to make stem cell therapy safer. Induced Pluripotent Stem cells, also known as iPS cells, are bioengineered from adult tissues to have properties of embryonic stem cells, which have the unlimited capacity to differentiate and grow into any desired types of cells, such as skin, brain, lung and heart cells. However, during the differentiation process, some residual pluripotent or embryonic-like cells may remain and cause them to grow into tumors.

"Pluripotent stem cells show great promise in the field of regenerative medicine; however, the risk of uncontrolled cell growth will continue to prevent their use as a therapeutic treatment," says Timothy Nelson, Ph.D., M.D., lead author on the study, which appears in the October issue of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine.

Using mouse models, Mayo scientists overcame this drawback by pretreated stem cells with a chemotherapeutic agent that selectively damages the DNA of the stem cells, efficiently killing the tumor-forming cells. The contaminated cells died off, and the chemotherapy didn't affect the healthy cells, Dr. Nelson says.

"The goal of creating new therapies is twofold: to improve disease outcome with stem cell-based regenerative medicine while also ensuring safety. This research outlines a strategy to make stem cell therapies safer for our patients while preserving their therapeutic efficacy, thereby removing a barrier to translation of these treatments to the clinic," says co-author Alyson Smith, Ph.D.

Stem cell therapies continue to be refined and improved. Researchers are finding that stem cells may be more versatile than originally thought, which means they may be able to treat a wider variety of diseases, injuries and congenital anomalies. Stem cell therapy is an emerging regenerative strategy being studied at Mayo Clinic.

"By harnessing the potential of regenerative medicine, we'll be able to provide more definitive solutions to patients," says Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., co-author and director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Regenerative Medicine.

###

Other members of the Mayo research team included Clifford Folmes, Ph.D., Katherine Hartjes, Natalie Nelson and Saji Oommen, Ph.D. The research was supported by the Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award OD007015-01, and a Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine accelerated research grant.

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Mayo Clinic finds way to weed out problem stem cells, making therapy safer

CNIO team discovers the first real indicator of longevity in mammals

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Public release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nuria Noriega nnoriega@cnio.es Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO)

A team of researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), headed by CNIO Director Mara Blasco, has demonstrated in a pioneering study on mammals that longevity is defined at a molecular level by the length of telomeres. The workwhich is published today in the online edition of the journal Cell Reportsopens the door to further study of these cellular components in order to calculate the rate at which cells age and thus be able to determine life expectancy for a particular organism.

Chromosomesthe cellular containers holding the genetic information in living creatureshave repetitive sequences of DNA at their extremities called telomeres. These sequences act as hoods that protect the genetic material in the face of any external agent which might damage it and compromise the function of the cells.

Several transversal population studiesmeasuring telomere length once over time in a large group of individualsshow a relationship between the length of the telomeres and the risk of suffering illnessescardiovascular disease or cancer, for example.

Until now, however, the use of telomeric measurements to predict real life expectancy in mammals had not been evaluated.

"In the transversal studies, it appears that individuals with short telomeres have a significantly increased probability of developing illnesses, including cancer. But this information is not applicable to a specific individual", says Blasco.

To determine a real ageing prediction method, the authors of the present study have carried out longitudinal studies of telomere length in mice, in which a single individual is followed over a period of time.

After taking periodic blood samples from the same individual, from which cells were extracted for study, they found that those mice which managed to live longer were not the ones that had longer telomeres at any given age but those in which showed less telomeric shortening over time.

"The important thing is not so much the long telomeres at any given time as the tendency or the evolution of the length of the telomeres over time", says Elsa Vera, lead author of the study.

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CNIO team discovers the first real indicator of longevity in mammals

First real indicator of longevity in mammals discovered

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) A team of researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), headed by CNIO Director Mara Blasco, has demonstrated in a pioneering study on mammals that longevity is defined at a molecular level by the length of telomeres. The work -- which is published September 27 in the online edition of the journal Cell Reports -- opens the door to further study of these cellular components in order to calculate the rate at which cells age and thus be able to determine life expectancy for a particular organism.

Chromosomes -- the cellular containers holding the genetic information in living creatures -- have repetitive sequences of DNA at their extremities called telomeres. These sequences act as hoods that protect the genetic material in the face of any external agent which might damage it and compromise the function of the cells.

Several transversal population studies -- measuring telomere length once over time in a large group of individuals -- show a relationship between the length of the telomeres and the risk of suffering illnesses -- cardiovascular disease or cancer, for example.

Until now, however, the use of telomeric measurements to predict real life expectancy in mammals had not been evaluated.

"In the transversal studies, it appears that individuals with short telomeres have a significantly increased probability of developing illnesses, including cancer. But this information is not applicable to a specific individual," says Blasco.

To determine a real aeing prediction method, the authors of the present study have carried out longitudinal studies of telomere length in mice, in which a single individual is followed over a period of time.

After taking periodic blood samples from the same individual, from which cells were extracted for study, they found that those mice which managed to live longer were not the ones that had longer telomeres at any given age but those in which showed less telomeric shortening over time.

"The important thing is not so much the long telomeres at any given time as the tendency or the evolution of the length of the telomeres over time," says Elsa Vera, lead author of the study.

With this study, Blasco's team suggests using mice as an animal model in longitudinal studies that allow for health prognoses in humans. Blasco says that: "while telomere length in normal mice is much greater than in humans, we have found, surprisingly, that the telomere shortening rate in mice is 100 times faster than in humans, so the old dogma of normal mice not getting old due to the shortening of their telomeres is wrong."

This study further opens the possibility of studying, via the longitudinal examination of these genetic guardians, the real effect of lifestyle choices such as diet, smoking or exercise on individual aging rates.

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First real indicator of longevity in mammals discovered

Many female brains contain male DNA

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In the first study of its kind, researchers have discovered that male DNA is commonly found in the brains of women a finding that could hold important implications for diseases like Alzheimers disease and cancer.

Male DNA is likely transferred to female brains during pregnancy, according to researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. During this time, mothers and fetuses exchange and harbor genetic material and cells in a phenomenon called microchimerism.

This means, if a mother is pregnant with a boy, she will end up with male DNA in her system potentially for the rest of her life. If the fetus is female, the mother will end up with genetic material from her daughter, though it is difficult for researchers to distinguish between two sets of female DNA in microchimerism studies.

What this means for treating diseases

Prior studies have observed fetal DNA in many other of the mothers tissues and organs, but this is the first to confirm fetal cells can cross the blood-brain barrier and reside in the mothers brain beyond pregnancy.

We were interested in looking at the human brain because its never been looked at before, and it was really unknown if the cells of fetal origin could reach the brain, study senior author Dr. Lee Nelson, a member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and professor of medicine at the University of Washington, told FoxNews.com. Nelson and her colleagues performed autopsies on 59 brains of deceased females and detected male microchimerism in 63 percent of them.

Male microchimerism was distributed across multiple regions of the female brain, including those affected by dementia, and could persist for decades potentially even an entire human lifespan. According to the study, the oldest female with microchimerism detected in her brain was 94.

The question naturally arises what role might the cells have in benefiting health and what role they play in diseases, Nelson added.

The researchers hope further studies on microchimerism might shed new light on various diseases that affect the brain, such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons or even brain tumors.

These cells have access to the brain could help us understand different treatment options for diseases that arent well treated, Nelson said. Its a very exciting new area that opens up different possibilities, such as, what if these cells have anti-tumor potential? For example, glioblastomas are deadly tumors, (which) have poor treatment options. Were very much in need of new potential options.

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DNA Mapping Uncovers the Mystery to Family History

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Scientific breakthroughs in the study of the human genome coupled with online access to massive genealogical records have opened the doors of ancestral investigation to include all those interested in unearthing their roots and, on October 26-27 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City, The Genealogy Event will feature exciting learning opportunities and resources for both novice and professional enthusiasts.

Technology has revolutionized genealogical research and can take you back more than 100,000 years, said Bridget Bray, organizer of the event. Uncovering the mystery and discovering your own history doesnt have to mean hours of pouring over dusty record books locked in courthouse basements. So much of your familys past has been right there in your own DNA, waiting for science to catch up and read it.

DNA testing and analysis has evolved dramatically in recent years casting the widest net possible to ones genetic matrix, said Ken Chahine, SVP and General Manager of AncestryDNA, sponsor of The Genealogy Event. AncestryDNA has merged this new technology with the millions of family trees and billions of records on Ancestry.com providing exciting new family history discoveries for those new to the hobby as well as the most dedicated researcher.

According to Family Tree DNA President Bennett Greenspan, exhibitor and speaker at The Genealogy Event, Through an examination of the Mitochondrial DNA for women the Y-Chromosome for men, we can look at the direct female and male linesgenealogically and anthropologicallyback to the first woman and man who lived in Africa more than 100,000 years ago.

The Genealogy Event will feature 40 expert speaking sessions including ones that demonstrate how an analysis of your DNA can also provide a breakdown of ethnic percentages and reveal the parts of the world from which an individuals ancestors came. Testing could even bring to light distant relations around the globe going back 400 years.

Attendees will also connect with a host of companies, organizations and societies that offer essential services to the genealogical industry.

According to Bray, People have always been fascinated by where they come from, telling and retelling the stories handed down from their elders. Popular shows like Finding Your Roots with Henry Gates, Jr. and Who Do You Think You Are? which trace the heritage of famous personalities have underscored this interest and demonstrated how science can help to expose unknown ethnicities, dispel family myths and reveal even more thrilling truths.

New York City is a melting pot within a melting pot and we are thrilled to present The Genealogy EventNYCs only event of its kindto put people in touch with their pasts. And its all for about the price of a movie ticket, she said.

For more information and to pre-register online for The Genealogy Event, visit http://www.thegenealogyevent.com. Tickets are available for $15 per day.

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DNA Mapping Uncovers the Mystery to Family History

Posted in DNA

Bearing Sons Leaves Male DNA Traces in Mom's Brain

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By Melissa Lee Phillips, ScienceNOW

Giving a whole new meaning to pregnancy brain, a new study shows that male DNA likely left over from pregnancy with a male fetus can persist in a womans brain throughout her life. Although the biological impact of this foreign DNA is unclear, the study also found that women with more male DNA in their brains were less likely to have suffered from Alzheimers disease hinting that the male DNA could help protect the mothers from the disease, the researchers say.

During mammalian pregnancy, the mother and fetus exchange DNA and cells. Previous work has shown that fetal cells can linger in the mothers blood and bone for decades, a condition researchers call fetal microchimerism. The lingering of the fetal DNA, research suggests, may be a mixed blessing for a mom: The cells may benefit the mothers health by promoting tissue repair and improving the immune system but may also cause adverse effects, such as autoimmune reactions.

One question is how leftover fetal cells affect the brain. Researchers have shown that fetal microchimerism occurs in mouse brains, but they had not shown this in humans. So a team led by autoimmunity researcher and rheumatologist J. Lee Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, took samples from autopsied brains of 59 women who died between the ages of 32 and 101. By testing for a gene specific to the Y chromosome, they found evidence of male DNA in the brains of 63 percent of the women. (The researchers did not have the history of the womens pregnancies.) The male DNA was scattered across multiple brain regions, the team reports online today in PLoS ONE.

Because some studies have suggested that the risk of Alzheimers disease (A.D.) increases with an increasing number of pregnancies, the team also examined the brains for signs of the disease, allowing them to determine whether A.D. correlated with the observed microchimerism. Of the 59 women, 33 had A.D. but contrary to the teams expectation, the women with A.D. had significantly less male DNA in their brains than did the 26 women who did not have A.D..

Whether that correlation means that fetal male DNA helps protect women against A.D. is unclear, however. To me, this suggests that the presence of fetal cells in the female brain prevents disease, says cardiologist Hina Chaudhry of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

In a study published online in Circulation Research late last year, Chaudhry and colleagues found that fetal cells in mice migrated to the mothers heart, differentiated into functioning cardiac cells, and accelerated repair to damaged heart tissue. So, Chaudhry says, a similar thing could be happening when fetal cells migrate to the brain. I would bet these cells are getting into the maternal brain and are able to differentiate into neurons.

A 2010 study in Stem Cells and Development showed that fetal cells can migrate to the brain of a mother mouse and mature into neurons, Nelson says. But, she adds, it remains unclear if something similar is happening in humans and its also difficult to reach any firm conclusions about a potential link between microchimerism and A.D. Part of the problem is that her team had little information about the pregnancy histories of the women in their study. We have to say we really dont know, she says. I hope that kind of work can be done in the future, but its very difficult to do with human samples.

This story provided by ScienceNOW, the daily online news service of the journal Science.

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Posted in DNA

New drive to take criminals' DNA

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27 September 2012 Last updated at 13:20 ET

Police forces in England and Wales have begun a large-scale operation to collect DNA samples from about 12,000 serious offenders who are not on the national DNA database.

Operation Nutmeg will see officers collect swabs from sex offenders and murderers living in the community.

Criminals are often not on the database if they were convicted before 1994, when sample-taking became routine.

The scheme has been launched after a successful pilot exercise in Hampshire.

Police hope the collection of thousands of new samples could help to solve so-called cold-cases, where a new sample is linked to a past crime.

Speaking at a briefing on Thursday, Amanda Cooper, director of information, science and technology at Thames Valley Police, said officers would approach individuals between now and next summer to collect the samples.

Police forces have been given lists of offenders living in their areas and will work though them to collect the samples.

The lists have been drawn up based on information from the Police National Computer, which was first used in the 1970s.

Alex Marshall, the chief constable of Hampshire police, said 167 samples were taken from a list of 471 convicted criminals during the pilot operation.

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New drive to take criminals' DNA

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Biology megaprojects offer ‘diminishing returns,’ warns ex-National Academy of Sciences chief

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OTTAWA The editor of the worlds best-known science journal has issued a call to avoid getting carried away with massive human biology projects that show clear signs of diminishing returns.

Bruce Alberts is editor-in-chief of Science magazine, and a biochemist by training.

What triggered his warning, published Wednesday in an editorial, is the latest biology megaproject: 10 years of work by 442 scientists to create an encyclopedia of DNA elements.

Biology has megaprojects of all sorts. There was the 15-year Human Genome Project, deciphering three billion pieces of our DNA code.

Equally massive studies keep spinning off: proteomics (identifying all the proteins in cells), transcriptomics, epigenomics and metabolomics see the creation of encyclopedia-sized works by hundreds of researchers at many universities and governments, and their staffs.

Whats wrong with that? Alberts warns that the governments funding these projects are producing mountains of data, but not enough understanding.

As a coauthor of a textbook in cell biology that is updated at 5-year intervals, I am painfully aware of the huge gap that remains in our understanding of even the simplest cells, he writes.

For instance, he argues, after 50 years of using the E. coli bacterium as a model, nearly a quarter of its more than 4,000 proteins have unknown functions. He calls this very sobering.

There are clear signs of diminishing returns from the megaprojects, he said. But the culture supporting them remains difficult to stop, and he says its grabbing all the available money.

Alberts is one of the worlds most influential figures in science policy, a past president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences with a global audience. Hes also a divergent thinker who has railed against the gobbledygook of science jargon and pleaded with researchers to speak (and write) plainer English.

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Biology megaprojects offer ‘diminishing returns,’ warns ex-National Academy of Sciences chief